The use of inhalation devices in the administration of medicaments, for example in bronchodilation therapy is well known. Such devices generally comprise a body or housing within which a medicament carrier is located. Known inhalation devices include those in which the medicament carrier is a blister strip containing a number of discrete doses of powdered medicament. Such devices usually contain a mechanism of individually accessing these doses, usually comprising either piercing means or means to peel a lid sheet away from a base sheet. The powdered medicament can then be accessed and inhaled. Such a mechanism may also be used for dispensing medicament in tablet form wherein peeling away the lid sheet from the base sheet reveals a tablet for removal and subsequent consumption.
It is advantageous to provide the patient with a means for counting the number of doses of medicament dispensed or still remaining. It is desirable that any counting means be configured to register a count only when medicament is provided to the patient for inhalation, and in particular that opportunities for false counts and/or tampering are minimised. It is also desirable that the counting means be clearly visible by the patient and that the count be displayable in either analogue or digital form.
The Applicants have now devised various dose counting systems, which meet the some or all of the above criteria. In aspects, the counting systems may be provided to the medicament dispenser as a separable unit, which enables ready re-use and recycling thereof. The latter benefit is particularly important where the counter comprises electronic components, which are readily re-usable and potentially expensive to re-manufacture.